“I don’t need a babysitter! I’m not going to grow horns!”
Eliza sat back, her hands rising as if in self-defense. “Didn’t say you did. But I thought you wanted me to meet Mindy. That’s what you said in Rome, right? And I’m dying to go to the beach. I went all the time in San Diego, and I’m having withdrawals. Is there anyplace to rent boards?”
“You surf?” The looming issue of Allie’s demonic heritage faded against the shining brilliance of learning to surf. “Will you teach me?”
“Allie,” I said. “Remember the last time you were interested in surfing?”
“Well, yeah. But this time,I’mthe demon.”
“Allie!”
“Kidding.” She scrunched her shoulders, looking like my little girl. “Honest, Mom, surfing isn’t the problem, and you know it.”
“Well, it might beaproblem, but we can have the sports and safety discussion later. Now, I guess you can just go.”
“Really? Awesome. Can you drive us?”
“Bus,” I said. “Consider the walk to the bus stop part of your surfing training regimen.”
Allie rolled her eyes. “Can Eliza drive us?”
I frowned, having forgotten that we had another licensed driver in our midst. At least, I assumed she was licensed. “Can you?”
“Sure,” Eliza said. “But my car’s still in San Diego.”
I nodded, suddenly remembering that Eliza hadn’t told us her plans. Was she going back home? Was she staying in San Diablo? Was she moving to Rome to train?
That, however, was a discussion for another time.
“You can borrow the van,” Stuart chimed in, when it became obvious that I wasn’t going to answer.
“Oh, right. Yeah. The keys to the Odyssey are hanging in the kitchen. Check the gas,” I called as they hurried off. “And the tires!”
A whisper of worry cut through me, and I tried to shove it down, telling myself that I was nervous because Allie was being driven around by another teenager. But Allie’d been driven around by her older high school friends for the last year.
No, the real reason for my worry was exactly the same as Allie’s. It stemmed from what she was. From what we now knew about her. I was afraid that like every teenager, she’d lose her cool. But unlike every teenager, her explosions of temper might cause real damage.
True, they never had before. Her toddler temper tantrums never opened a portal to hell, and her snits as a teen never summoned an army of vampires to our home. But that was before.
Things were different now. She’d stood at the portal to hell, and her blood had held back the demonic hordes.Her blood.
A golden light had filled the chamber then, bathing us all. For all I knew, that day had changed something fundamental inside her. Even if it hadn’t, she was growing up. Growing and changing.
As a mom, that made me excited and thrilled and a bit sentimental.
As a Demon Hunter, it terrified me.
Not only because I didn’t know how the scary demon bits inside her would ultimately manifest—if they did at all—but also because her grandparents had purposefully bred her in the hopes of creating the ultimate demon-fighting weapon. And I had a feeling that the general demon population wasn’t too happy with that.
Mostly I was afraid of the unknown. Afraid for my baby. And frustrated that I didn’t have a clue how to help her.
As if he knew what I was thinking, Stuart squeezed my hand. “She’s a great kid. It’s going to be fine.”
I smiled, and for one blissful moment, I let myself believe him.
Then Eddie went and shot my fantasy all to hell by releasing a loud snort. “You got a damn funny view of ‘fine,’ boy,” he said. “Because I’m thinking that things are about to get messier than ever.”
“Thanks, Eddie,” I said dryly. “Thanks so much.”
